Phytochemical screening of wild pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) juices from the market

The utilization of pomegranate (P. granatum L.) in various industries has recently increased. The consumption of pomegranate juice is highly recommended because of bioactive compounds that have a pro-health effect on the human body. The main aim of this study is phytochemical screening and comparison of pomegranate juices available at the Montenegrin market, prepared from whole fruits and arils of wild pomegranate. Besides the determination of basic juice parameters (pH, EC, TTA, and TSS), the quantification of sugars, organic acids, vitamin C, and phenolics was performed by high-performance liquid chromatography. It was found that juice is a rich, good source of flavan-3-ols (2650-9820 mg L-1), ellagitannins (2010-6420 mg L-1), and hydroxybenzoic acids (720-3390 mg L-1). The juices prepared from whole fruits in comparison to the ones from arils have lower pH and higher content of numerous phenolics. The ratio between certain parameters was very high, especially for: punicalin derivative 1 (8.8), ellagic acid, ellagic acid dihexoside, digalloyl-hexoside 1, gallagyl ester 1, gallic acid, ellagic acid galloyl hexoside, ellagitannin 5, digalloyl hexoside 2, ellagitannin 4 (4.4). A significant difference in the content was not found for some acids, sugars, and all anthocyanins, i.e., exactly for 39 compounds.

Automated summary

The study conducted phytochemical analysis on pomegranate juices available in the Montenegrin market, revealing rich content of phenolic compounds. The whole fruit juices had lower pH and higher levels of various phenolics compared to aril juices.